Been a while...

Crikey, how did that happen? It's mid-December and I've yet to blog. Oops!

Well, I'm still waiting eagerly for snow.  I have resisted the urge to tape a ruler to the window. To be honest, we seem to be going through a patch of warmer, wetter weather and it feels a bit like it will NEVER snow. *sigh*

Anyway, whilst moping about hoping for snow, I've been twiddling with yarn and hook. I finally finished a cushion which has been hanging around for ages. You can see it in this post here from March. Honestly, nine months to finish a cushion which was essentially finished. Anyway, the reason it took so long was because I didn't like the closing. I was originally aiming for a fold-y over thing, like the two-year cushion (spot a theme here...?), but I just wasn't feeling it for this one. So I'd pick it up, crochet a bit, not like it, frog it, then put it down for another month or six.  Finally, I have finished it. I am happy with it. I like it. I might even struggle to list it and sell it.

I need to pull together camera and cushion next time there's better light, as this is the only decent shot I have of it at the moment, but like I said, I like it.

I can't actually believe it took me so long to decide on four buttons. Shocking, isn't it?

While it may have taken forever to finish this cushion, there has been another cushion and a shawl, a some fiddling with granny patterns since my last post. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you'll have seen snippets.  I'll follow up with a proper blog post soon.

And in other news, I have not put up my Christmas decorations. They'll go up on 24th December for 12 days only. I feel like the last woman in England not to be tripping over tinsel and blinded by the blinking of a thousand fairy lights, but there it is. Not that I'm not looking forward to Christmas (I have already started the Christmas eating...), it's just that I miss the anticipation. Christmas stuff appears so early in the shops these days, that it can all feel a bit tired and overcooked by the time Christmas actually comes around. Is it just me?

Front Page

A delightful surprise this morning as I spotted one of my chunky snoods in the 'favourite finds' section on the front page of Folksy.

Do pop along and have a look - I'm in very good company with some lovely items from other makers. In other news, it was a busy weekend here, sewing in ends on a blanket and squinting at tiny crochet stitches to produce these...

These too are now available in the shop, which is filling up nicely.  Now all I need is for it to start emptying nicely!

Stars

Possibly the most exciting thing about Rico producing a line of 10 count cotton in an ace selection of colours is that the star-in-an-embroidery-hoop Christmas decoration that I used to stock in white comes in a veritable rainbow of choices this year!

It makes me very happy to see these hanging in the shop!

Merry Christmas!

For every photo you take of me in this, I get 20 minutes uninterrupted one-on-one time with the tree, right?

I hope Santa brings everything you ask him for and you all have a wonderful time.

Festive Freebie

I thought I'd share a quick festive pattern with you. It's a nice easy one to whip up in half an hour while you wait for the mince pies to weld themselves to the baking tray bake. I made mine with scraps from the stash, so it's good for using up ends too.

This one is big enough for a small teddy. You could add a loop and make it into a tree decoration, or continue the pattern below until it fits a somebody rather than a something.

Using red yarn, start with a magic ring (or chain 5, join to first ch to make a ring and crochet the next row into the ring).

*Chain always counts as first stitch*

Row 1: Ch 3, 5 tr into ring, join to ch. (6 stitches)
Row 2: Ch 3, 2tr in each stitch around, join to ch. (12 stitches)
Row 3: Ch 3, 1 tr in each stitch around, join to ch. (12 stitches)
Row 4: Ch 3, 1tr in same stitch, 1 tr in next stitch. *2tr in next st, 1 tr in next st* repeat to end, join to ch. (18 stitches)
Row 5: Ch 3, 1 tr in each stitch around, join to ch. (18 stitches)
Row 6: Ch 3, 1tr in same stitch, 1 tr in next 2 stitches. *2tr in next st, 1 tr in next 2 st* repeat to end, join to ch. (24 stitches)
Row 7: Ch 3, 1 tr in each stitch around, join to ch. (24 stitches)
Row 8: Ch 3, 1tr in same stitch, 1 tr in next 3 stitches. *2tr in next st, 1 tr in next 3 st* repeat to end, join to ch. (30 stitches)
Row 9: Ch 3, 1 tr in each stitch around, join to ch. (30 stitches)

Change to white yarn

Row 10: 1 cluster stitch in each stitch around. Finish off.

Use the same white yarn to make a pompom and sew it to the pointy end. I made my pompom using a fork (wrap the yarn around the tines a few time, then thread a bit of yarn through the middle gap to tie the wrapped yarn in the middle. Slide it off the fork and snip through the loops you've just pulled the fork out of. Ta-daa!).

NB: For the cluster stitch, start as you would for a treble, so  *YO, hook through the stitch below, YO, pull through 2 loops*, then rather than finish off the treble, repeat from * twice more. You should have three half made treble stitches on your hook now. Do a final YO and pull though all the loops on your hook.

Mince pies

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the pastry on a mince pie is a mere formality, a politeness, to stop you eating the mincemeat out of the jar with a spoon. At least, it is in my house. I like my mince pies with a thin pastry and a lot of innards. I also make the same mistake every year and use a too-small pastry cutter for the first batch of mince pies. Seeing as I like a generous filling, this is often the result:

Even so, there are always a few that turn out nicely:

These are the ones that go in the tin, to be offered to visitors, or to be scoffed by me when all the oozy ones have gone, whichever comes first.

Frosty

We've been having some amazing hoar frosts here of late. 

Everything has a crisp white edging...

And dainty details are heavily outlined...

Outside, the air is crisp and fresh and full of the sound of chunks of frost melting in the Winter sun and falling on the path.

Indoors, it's toasty and warm and Cat #2 keeps knocking the Christmas cards off the windowsill as he stares down the robin in the garden. In The Bleak Midwinter is on the radio. It's my favourite carol and it feels very appropriate. What's your favourite carol?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

...even my milk carton has got its Christmas decorations up.

I love it, but I very nearly missed it in the supermarket as I was looking for the usual packaging!

All wrapped up

I don't mean to brag, but I have done my Christmas shopping. All of it. I do still have a little bit of Christmas making to finish off, but the buying is done. I've even wrapped my presents. For the last few years I have ditched the bright, patterned wrapping paper in favour of something plain and tied with a nice ribbon. This has worked wonders on the ribbon stash that was threatening to overrun the cupboards!

This year, I'm going for red kraft paper and some funky tape that I bought a while ago from Summersville. I think they're looking rather smart, no?

I do like red white and turquoise as a colour scheme. In one of the further corners of my mind, there's a blanket in those colours just waiting to be made...

A little festive hypocrisy

I have already seen mince pies in the shops. I have already seen tinsel. I have already seen toy reindeer and wooden Santas. I have tutted at all of them.

Then I remembered: I was making baubles in August.

And I am selling them now. In October.

And I tutted at myself.

Baubles

I know.  It's still technically summer.  So I will simply offer up some nice pictures of crochet goodness.  Absolutely no mention of the c-word.

With the exception of the cream one,they are all made with Rico's Maxi cotton.  It's in stock now and I am loving the subtle vintage-y shades.  The cream one is a ball of Aida by Anchor that I dug out of the stash.  Oh man!  20 count cotton.  There's a lot of work in that one little bauble!

Wippity WIP: Extremes

Apologies for the radio silence, but there has been a lot of crochet going on here at the moment.  Well, a lot of crochet planning, anyway.  The problem with a lot of planning, is it often means a lot of making, frogging, making, frogging, so I can crochet all evening and have nothing to show for it. I have managed to tease a little bit of order out of the chaos of pile after pile of crimped, frogged yarn though.  Wanna see?

First up is an experiment with some super-duper-über chunky cotton.

I can't decide whether to stock it.  It's Rico's Fashion Big Cotton (super chunky) and I really do like it, but it's not the easiest to work with.  I love working with cotton, it's probably my favourite yarn, but it does leave you with a splitty yarn and this is no exception.  If anything, being such a chunky yarn, it's even splittier and not for the faint-hearted!  You definitely need to know exactly what you're going to do with it, as the more you work it, the less manageable it becomes. When it's crocheted up though, it's gorgeous!

I'm aiming for a big blanket.  It's going to be a slow-burning project, but I'm ok with that.  I like to have a 'long-termer' bubbling away in the background.  As you can see, I have a bit of a way to go...

At the other end of the spectrum, I have made a start on Christmas.  Sorry.

The covered bauble in the picture is made using some Lyscordet I have leftover from last year, but there are coloured ones too for which I'm using Rico's Maxi crochet cotton.  It's the exact opposite to the chunky stuff above: mercerised, fine, not-at-all-splitty.  It's a delight to work with and I will definitely be stocking it, just as soon as I can sort out some images for it.

As I'm working on these projects pretty much side by side, it does mean that I frequently swap from this crochet hook...

To this one...

Like the title says, extreme!

Wooosh!

Christmas breezed through The Hookery this weekend.  These were made and listed in Eidelweiss:

...And flew out of the shop on the very same day!  More due to arrive this week.